"What... do you want?"
Gu Shen could finally speak. 520 Official Website
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Yet when he heard his own voice, it seemed to drift out from his chest, no longer belonging to him.
"You have no right to ask questions."
What answered him was a cold, icy rebuke.
The lights above suddenly converged into an intensely blazing beam, completely engulfing Gu Shen.
In an instant, it felt as if his soul had been doused in scalding water!
"On the day of the Fire Disaster Case, what method did you use to kill those two Transcendents?"
Han Dang stared intently at Gu Shen.
Beneath the searing light, Gu Shen let out a pained growl. Veins bulged on his forehead, and he did not want to speak.
But then, a furious voice rang out from the depths of his soul—
"Speak!"
Truth Domain, activated!
With a boom, Gu Shen's head felt as though it had exploded. It was as if an invisible hand had pinned his skull firmly against the Tribunal Head's desk.
He tried to resist the truth.
But his voice uncontrollably squeezed out from his chest bit by bit, hoarse as dry grains of sand. "It was... a Sealed Item... I used a Transcendent Sealed Item..."
Han Dang looked coldly at Gu Shen.
Within the Truth Domain, Gu Shen could not lie.
Sure enough, just as he had thought, Gu Shen himself did not possess the strength to deal with those two Transcendents. He had relied on outside help.
"What kind of Sealed Item was it? Where did you get it?" Han Dang asked unhurriedly. He slowly withdrew from his fury and resumed that gentle, refined expression.
The turbulent darkness around them slowly dissipated.
But one thing remained unchanged: Gu Shen was still pinned to the desk, his voice being pried out of his throat bit by bit.
"It was... a ruler... I got it from A-009..."
"A-009?"
Han Dang frowned, then suddenly understood.
The final doubt had been cleared up.
This had indeed been a blind spot in his investigation. Han Dang had previously guessed that the "Transcendent item" was something Gu Shen had possessed all along, allowing him to survive two consecutive Transcendent incidents.
So that was it... Gu Shen had obtained a Sealed Item from A-009 by chance.
"That fire drew a great deal of attention, so you hid the Sealed Item beneath a wooden board in the corner of the rooftop stairwell. Afterward, you even returned to the Fire Disaster Case scene and retrieved it." Han Dang smiled, folding his hands together. "Gu Shen, I have to say... you are a brave man. Is that ruler on you now?"
"..."
A long silence followed.
Gu Shen's voice no longer trembled.
"No... I left it in the bedroom of my apartment in Da Teng City."
"Oh?" Han Dang chuckled. "It seems you are not very smart either. You actually didn't keep something so important on you... Where in the bedroom did you put that ruler?"
He did not notice the subtle change in Gu Shen's tone.
Nor did he see it.
Above the bench behind Gu Shen floated a snow-white dress. It drifted and descended slowly through the dark space.
The girl overlapped with Gu Shen as she sat on the chair.
Within the truth, Gu Shen could not lie.
But... someone else could.
Chu Ling, who had formed a Mental Link with Gu Shen, was an observer beyond the constraints of this dream. Whether it was the Truth Domain or Awakening of Insects, none of the rules of any dream applied to her.
This was the method Gu Shen had thought of at the last moment to deal with Han Dang's interrogation.
This was the thirteenth day of Han Dang's investigation, and it had reached its final stage. Han Dang's suspicions toward him were exceptionally strong.
So when facing this Soul Torture... even with the Mental Link, Gu Shen could not try to deceive him entirely with lies. The man opposite him was a viciously sharp character. If Han Dang realized Gu Shen could lie within the Truth Domain, the situation would escalate beyond any hope of resolution.
Therefore, he could only honestly reveal the existence of the Truth Ruler.
He had to endure the pain he was meant to endure.
All for the Mental Link at the final moment, after Han Dang had lowered his guard.
"I put the ruler in..."
Chu Ling's voice overlaid Gu Shen's, slow and lingering. "The third drawer of the bedroom storage cabinet."
Something felt strange.
Gu Shen's presence had changed. He no longer seemed like himself.
Han Dang frowned slightly. He sensed a trace of abnormality, but quickly dismissed it as an illusion. There was no way this kid could deceive him within the Truth Domain.
He had now obtained the most important information: the ruler's location—
The job was done.
At last... a choice lay before him.
Han Dang only wanted to sabotage this assessment.
There was no simpler or more direct method than severely injuring Gu Shen.
Within the dream of truth, all he had to do was wave his hand... and this kid would spend three to five months bedridden.
But soon enough,
Han Dang abandoned the thought.
It was not that he did not dare to do it, but that he did not want to.
If he crippled Gu Shen and the matter was exposed, he would truly be buried in trouble. Mr. Shu's students were all extremely united, and they might do something crazy... Just thinking of that madwoman surnamed Luo gave Han Dang a terrible headache.
"Let's leave it at that... Retrieve the ruler, submit it to the Assessment Team, and everything will be over."
Han Dang pondered silently for a minute.
It was also a minute of dead silence within the dream of truth.
During that minute, Chu Ling maintained the Mental Link without severing it, while Gu Shen suffered through the long wait. His fate was not in his own hands.
It could even be said that whether he lived or died depended entirely on Han Dang's whim.
"Snap."
At last, Han Dang snapped his fingers.
He looked at Gu Shen, and a smile bloomed once more on his cold face. "All right. Let us forget everything that happened here and return to reality. In reality, we will become friends at first sight."
It seemed as though a very long time had passed within the dream of truth.
Yet in reality, the clock seemed to have ticked only once.
In the stairwell, the two men who had been frozen like stone statues returned to normal.
Gu Shen scratched his head. "Mr. Han, did you call me just now?"
"No."
Han Dang smiled gently and adjusted his glasses. "Did you hear wrong?"
The grandmother's eager voice rose from below the stairs. "Little Gu, the tea is ready! Hurry and bring Little Han down..."
Han Dang picked up his briefcase and descended the stairs. Reaching the grandmother, he bowed slightly and put on that refined, harmless smile. "Grandma, I still have matters to attend to, so I won't continue disturbing you."
The grandmother stood there awkwardly.
"This... We were having such a nice chat. Why are you leaving already?"
She desperately signaled to Gu Shen with her eyes, wanting to know what had happened in the brief time it took her to brew a pot of tea.
This was a big fat fish... No, a distinguished guest.
Gu Shen subtly shook his head, indicating that he knew nothing.
The grandmother hurried forward with a smile. "Hey, hey, hey, Little Han..."
"Grandma, you want to ask about the sponsorship, right?"
Han Dang smiled. "Please rest assured, there is no problem with the sponsorship. Gu Shen and I hit it off at first sight and had a wonderful talk just now, so I'll cover the cost of repairing and renovating the Welfare Institute. Besides, I truly do like the flowers on the rooftop. There aren't many people like you in this era. I hope the Welfare Institute can continue operating."
If he had not read Han Dang's file beforehand, if he had not personally experienced the dream of truth and resisted the hypnosis through the Mental Link,
Gu Shen might truly have hit it off at first sight with this "Little Han."
And to anyone else, he would seem like an outstanding young man with a positive outlook and love for society, gracious in speech and gentle in manner.
"This is the first installment of sponsorship money."
Han Dang took out a check from inside his suit jacket, wrote in the amount of one hundred thousand, and signed his name. Looking at the grandmother's delighted, excited smile, he smiled and said, "I will transfer more money to Morning Light Orphanage later."
"Thank you, thank you." The grandmother tugged on Gu Shen's sleeve. "Little Gu, don't just stand there."
Gu Shen quickly smiled. "Thank you for your generosity, Mr. Han."
The kinder and more approachable Han Dang appeared in reality,
the more Gu Shen, who saw through everything, felt lingering fear and wariness.
This man clearly possessed the Transcendent power to alter people's thoughts in dreams. He had no need to perform or disguise himself, yet he still wore a mask and delighted in the reverence of others.
Between dreams and reality, which one was the real Han Dang?
"You're welcome."
Han Dang smiled and patted Gu Shen on the shoulder. "I should be the one thanking you."
Seeing the baffled, "at a loss" expression on Gu Shen's face, Han Dang smiled again and said no more. He simply carried his briefcase and left the Welfare Institute with light steps.
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